The grant will provide students and faculty in the School of Engineering with a suite of leading industry software that will help them to conceive, design, engineer and validate projects using the same tools as today’s leading manufacturing and technology companies employ.

“This is a wonderful day for the University and for the people of Connecticut,” said university president Philip E. Austin. “This grant signifies a unique and enormously valuable collaboration between one of the nation’s major public research universities and one of the nation’s most innovative and forward-thinking companies. The nature and scope of the grant are unparalleled in UConn’s history. The grant will further strengthen a School of Engineering that is already making great strides in research, instruction and service to the wider community. E-engineering and e-commerce are vital components of Connecticut’s economic growth, and we are delighted to partner in this great venture.”

The UGS PLM Solutions software included in the grant includes products used by technologists and engineers at General Motors, Boeing, Toyota, AT&T, IBM, Hitachi, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, General Dynamics and many other top global companies. There are now approximately 2.6 million licensed seats of software incorporating UGS PLM Solutions technology with 41,000 commercial customers worldwide.

“This grant will position the University of Connecticut among the leaders in e-engineering education and will ensure that UConn’s graduates and faculty have access to world-class e-engineering support,” said Amir Faghri, dean of the School of Engineering. “UGS PLM Solutions will serve as UConn’s educational partner, helping to train engineering students using the most cutting-edge design product development on the market today.”

The grant will provide UConn engineering students with the tools they need to transition smoothly from an academic environment into careers in industry, says Faghri. “It gives our students a real competitive advantage in the career marketplace,” he said.

The grant covers a suite of PLM tools for computer aided design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), computer aided engineering (CAE) and collaborative visualization, with advanced features such as finite element analysis, optimization programs and advanced solid modeling.

UGS PLM Solutions is committed to helping leading academic institutions such as the University of Connecticut expand career development opportunities for students and cultivate a talented base of candidates to increase the competitiveness of regional as well as global manufacturers, according to John Saia, president of UGS PLM Solutions’ eastern region.

“UGS PLM Solutions made this significant investment in the UConn School of Engineering due to the outstanding engineering programs it offers and the emphasis it offers in undergraduate university-industry research and outreach programs,” said Saia. “Today's leading manufacturers compete on the basis of time to market, product cost, quality and innovation. Students must have the opportunity to gain experience with technology that supports these objectives.”

The grant to UConn is among the largest UGS PLM Solutions has awarded to a university. The company’s Global Strategic Partnerships program boasts more than 7,100 academic partners including such institutions as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University; the University of Michigan; the California Institute of Technology; the University of Illinois; Purdue University; and Texas A & M.

In recent years, the UConn School of Engineering has partnered with the private sector to expand its educational horizons, including establishing 16 endowed named and chaired professorships. The UGS PLM Solutions grant will enable the School of Engineering to establish a long-planned Institute for Interdisciplinary Engineering Education, Design and Computing, Faghri says.

The institute will allow the school to integrate activities across all disciplines in the school with emphasis in the interdisciplinary design and computational process from outreach to K-12 through graduate education. The institute represents an educational endeavor that promotes new technologies using the most advanced innovated learning techniques. The mission of the institute is to ignite new approaches and spark innovation by connecting industry with academia in a virtual Internet worked and or/digital-based environment.

The UGS PLM Solutions software also will find diverse applications within the school’s major research centers, including the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center and the Center for Optics, Sensing and Tracking in Homeland Security, as well as providing enhanced opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration among researchers.

The UGS PLM Solutions grant puts the University well over its $300 million fundraising goal with more than seven months remaining in Campaign UConn. Aggressive efforts will continue to raise at least $43 million for specific campaign objectives in support of student scholarships, faculty chairs and professorships and program enhancements before the campaign ends on June 30.
The largest gift received by the University before the UGS PLM Solutions grant was $23 million from alumnus Raymond Neag for the Neag School of Education and the UConn Health Center.

The School of Engineering has 1,450 undergraduate and 400 graduate students and 120 faculty in 12 undergraduate programs and 10 graduate programs. The School of Engineering faculty members hold nearly 70 top editorial positions with leading archival engineering and scientific journals and approximately 42 faculty members are elected fellows of prestigious professional societies.

About UGS PLM Solutions
UGS PLM Solutions, a leader in product data management, collaboration and product design software and services with 41,000 clients, is the product lifecycle management (PLM) subsidiary of EDS. The company works collaboratively with its clients to create solutions enabling them to transform their process of innovation and thus begin to capture the promise of PLM. The combination of the former operations of companies including Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC), Engineering Animation Inc. (EAI) and UGS, UGS PLM Solutions has created some of the leading product design technologies that ultimately became the backbone of the PLM industry. Today, the company is a family of one building on three decades of leadership in continuing to be a pioneer in PLM. For more information on UGS PLM Solutions products and services, visit www.ugsplmsolutions.com

About EDS
EDS, the premier global outsourcing services company, delivers superior returns to clients through its cost-effective, high-value services model. EDS’ core portfolio comprises information-technology and business process outsourcing services, as well as information-technology transformation services. EDS’ two complementary, subsidiary businesses are A.T. Kearney, one of the world's leading high-value management consultancies, and UGS PLM Solutions, a leader in product data management, collaboration and product design software. With 2002 revenue of $21.5 billion, EDS is ranked 80th on the Fortune 500. The company’s stock is traded on the New York (NYSE: EDS) and London stock exchanges.